Sunday, October 28, 2012
When I meet parents of teenagers, I often find myself
thinking,
“That’s me in 10 years.”
Our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. G., sent their son Neil off to
college this past fall. Their daughter
Sara is 17 and will follow the same path in a few years. Mr. and Mrs. G. are close to becoming empty-nesters.
This Sunday, Mr. and Mrs. G. came to dinner. I served “Swiss Chicken,” a casserole-type
dish made of boneless chicken breasts, swiss cheese, and cream of chicken soup,
topped with stuffing. In addition, I
made a broccoli and mushroom salad, sweet potato casserole, and corn pudding
from recipes I found in the Real Simple
magazine my husband brought home from his office. Mrs. G. brought grapes for the kids. For dessert, I served pumpkin pie.
Outside of a casual “hello” at church, we rarely see Mr. and
Mrs. G. However it’s comforting to know
we have friends just a few houses away.
I would have no problem asking Mr. and Mrs. G. for help if I needed
it. A few times, Mrs. G. looked at our
kids and said,
“It goes by so fast.”
I’m sure she is right.
However, it’s hard to grasp that my beautiful, energetic
children who fall to the floor in cries and moans when I ask them to brush
their teeth and scream when I trim their toenails, these same angel-demons who
I look at and say under my breath,
“TEN more years, and you
are out of here!!!”
will really be gone someday.
And then, as Mr. and Mrs. G. have warned, I will walk by
their empty bedrooms and cry because I miss them. I appreciate friends like Mr. and Mrs. G. who
remind me to enjoy this precious time with my children. They help me to remember author Gretchen
Rubin’s wise saying on parenting,
“The days are long,
but the years are short.”
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